Beer: Ratings & Reviews

22 Oz Bottle. Rich bourbon vanilla, oak, bourbon browned malt sugars and nips of candied licorice. Warm, creamy and rich. Pours dark brown-black with creamy tan head. Flavor starts very warm, with lots of barrel char, some scotch alcohols, nips of fusels, a run of burnt coffee and a hot hand of 77% dark chocolate. Moves into a mingling of hops and fragrant malt character. A touch hot, but a fairly decent melding of barrel and beer. Higher hopping enjoyable, and working well with oak dryness. Could use a touch more density and creaminess, but overall a well-done. Bits of salty sea oats. Thanks Sean!

Pours a nice clean black color, nice carbonation, nice one-finger plus creamy tan head, lots of creamy sticky lacing to follow. The nose is malty, nice bourbon scent, and lots of toffee/caramel. The taste is malty, big hit of bourbon, nice touch of toffee/caramel. Medium body. Very drinkable, this is a very nice brew from Arcadia, glad to have had a chance to try it out.

Nice deep brown color-slight cocoa colored head on top. Very oakey and whiskey like aroma. Good flavor-some roasted malt against a huge whiskey flavor. Tends to be over done for my own personal liking. Oak flavor is way up front as well. Decent level of lactic sweetness-comes across as a sweet stout in spots. Nice body-very smooth and the sweet stout quality balances the overdone oakiness and whiskey. Quite drinkable though not my thing all around. Enjoyable-I would recommend in small doses for sure.

22 ounce bomber bottle, no freshness info offered. Pours darkest brown with orangy light shining through the edges of the glass, dark tan, middle of the road head and minor lacing. Nose of vanilla, and smoke. Intense flavors here of wood, burnt grains and smoke. Decent enough porter, perhaps a little thin, went well with some bread cheese and nuts. Not my favorite offering from Arcadia, but worth a try anyway

M - The warmth of bourbon and woody dryness are felt primarily. Next, a sweet caramelized malt that is slightly on the molasses side w/ a tinge of hop spice and tickle of cinnamon distract from the initial taste. A light body for a strong porter.

T - A big woody presence that seems to push the fruity dark Imperial porter flavor into a deeper realm. I find it tasty since it has the Bourbon aging assisting the ale flavors, but I wonder if maybe it is using the conditioning in bourbon casks as a boost. It is fruity, sweet and mildly bitter with vinous qualities. I am a fan of wood flavor in dark ales or I might be turned off to this Porter slightly.

D - A tasty brew that benefits from wood aging. Meant to be shared imo with above average abv in bomber packaging. Worth a taste, certainly, but I probably wouldn't seek it out.

Then, WHOO, the enticing aroma of Jim Beam sour mash bubbles up through the chocolate coffee vapors. Superb. The taste was just top notch of the sour mash mixing with the porter malt backbone. Raisins, cherries also make an appearance. Just a hint of alcohol, nicely presenting itself.

How this rated below a 3 for some is beyond my feeble mind. Man! Wish I had cellared a couple of these critters.

A: The porter is a dark brown color that has ruby red highlights. The head is quite large, thick and sponge, measuring in near 3 fingers. The lace is extensive in the glass.

S: The nose has the unique yeasty nose of a baltic porter with an underlying bourbon edge.

T: This is a rare beer that has a bourbon element without overdoing it. The chocolatey caramel body of the baltic porter comes through cleanly, creating a sweet body that is a strong conduit for the bourbon. Said bourbon is oaky, sweet with some vanilla and alcohol warmth. The bourbon manages to compliment the sweeter body of the porter without completely overtaking it.

M: The sweet bourbon and porter mix well together, creating a very nice body, delicious even.

D: I am extremely imrpessed with the beer. The bourbon element is great without making things too strong. This is up there with Curieux and KBS in terms of bourbon beers.

Pours a very dark brown with a a nice bit of tan foam and an aroma of bourbon and cocoa. The head settles slowly leaving some lace. This is a good looking beer. The first sip yields raisin, fig and cocoa flavors, plus something mysteriious I can't quite pin down...ah, that would be bourbon! A lactic note accents these flavors, which adds compexity, but accentuates the sweetness a bit too much for me. The finish is warming and rather boozy, with the malt and hops pretty much in balance. The mouthfeel is fairly smooth, but the body is quite thin. In some respects, this is how I imagine porter might have tasted 150 years ago back in England; strong with lots "dark" fruity flavors. Overall, this is pretty enjoyable, but it needs more body and a little less alcohol.

Once I popped the cap of this beer a torrent of foam gushed out. This wasn't too surpising, because it seems to be the case with most of Arcadia's beers. It was still annoying, none the less. The beer poured an opaque black color with a large, creamy, light tan head. The aroma is very boozy, chocolate, coffee, and malt are also present, but overpowered by the whiskey. The taste is slightly more balanced than the aroma, but still too boozy for my liking. This beer certainly tastes hotter than 7.8% ABV. The mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, but seems a little lighter due to excessive carbonation. Overall, this beer is a close miss. The whiskey aspect of it reminds me a lot of Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout, but Shipwreck seems to lack the massive amounts of malt to balance out all that whiskey.

Quite the "pop" when I open this bitch up. Then it actually starts foaming out a little right before I pour. My thought is that maybe this is an over-charged "off" edition of this beer. We'll see...

Dark, dark brown appearance. Big and airy brown head. Lace eventually comes in sporadic rings as I drink. Aroma is vanilla, oak, bourbon and roasted malts. While this beer isn't as over-charged as I had originally thought, it doesn't really feel that good. Or taste that good. The body is light and the mouthfeel is just a bit airy and gaseous. Flavor is weak for the style. The main player here is the oak and whiskey. The porter base is pretty weak. Otherwise, the porter characteristics are ghostly. This is a disappointment.

I'm looking at the rest of my beer in the bomber and the bomber is half full of beer and half full of head. Not a good sign. And not a good beer.

Smell: the aroma is full of roasted malts, dark chocolates, and a touch of alcohol.

Taste: roasted malts, chocolate, vanilla, molasses, mild bitterness, and a soft background hint of bourbon. Alcohol level is mildly noticeable. Roasted malts and chocolates are up front, but the other flavors are a bit behind.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied. Lightly crisp at the start, smoother towards the finish. Aftertaste is long on the flavors.

Drinkability: a decent version of a baltic porter, but personally this didn't overly excite me. This would go nicely with some smokey BBQ. Worth a try as personal mileage may vary.

Nice black colour,good aroma of the bourbon. I think this was aged in a bourbon barrel and would have liked it not to be. It was woody and I tasted the corn sweetner. We Canadians are not so oy-yoy-yoy on bourbon. I also found the mouthfeel to be a tad on the thin side.

Wow! What a disappointment. I enjoy porters very much but this was way too overdone.

It pours a nice enough color, deep brown with a two finger tan head. That is where the niceties end however. The nose is complete whiskey. I don't like whiskey. I don't drink whiskey. And that's basically all I can smell. There may have been a little coffee or chocolate in there, but I couldn't tell due to the boozy smell to this sucker.

The taste is complete whiskey. I don't like whiskey. I don't drink whiskey. And that's basically all I can taste. You get the idea.

The mouthfeel was underwhelming, but a little better than the nose and the taste. It was full with a touch of alcohol sting.

I could only handle about 5 smallish sips before I had to dump this one out, which is something that I very rarely do. I'm all for breweries trying to do new things with porters, but Arcadia went too far here in my opinion. Yikes. I need a brillo pad to scrub off my tongue.

I didn't realize that this was a whiskey barrel aged beer before I tried it - so that first sip was a shocker. It pours a very dark color with a moderate head that falls quickly and leaves a bit of lacing on the glass. The aroma has a lot of dark malt character with chocolate, but the whiskey comes through as well to create a complex combination. Quite sweet and flavorful flavor with plenty of dark roasted malts combining with a very strong whiskey/bourbon flavor. The body is medium and the drinkability is ok considering the extremely strong flavor of the whiskey.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 3/4" brown head the opaque dark brown brew. Head lasts nicely, with heavy sticky lace. Aroma is dark grains with strong alcohol imput. Taste is chocolatey malts upfront, but quickly overpowered by the bourbony alcohol first seen in the nose. Mouthfeel is just limited by the alcohol, and drinkability is apulled down by same. I think if this one turned it down just a notch, it would be great.

4/7/08Appearance - pours black, two+ fingers of light mocha foam sitting on top. Nice hold at a half-finger and some good wavy lacing to boot.

Aroma - intensely oaky to the point of drowning out all other smells. A heady alcohol vapor mixed in also. An occasional whiff of chocolate but the wood here is very strong, too strong.

Taste - some decent chocolate malts to start. Slightly sweet, they are quickly replaced by an intensely woody flavor. Did they add 'Liquid Oak'? It's a big block of wood in handy liquid form. Some chocolate following and a good measure of abv warmth. The swallow has some balancing bitterness but the oak never lets up and allows anything else to blend in. I guess after a number of bourbon barrel beers, it's different to taste just the oak without the whiskey, but I don't care a whole lot for it. While waiting a bit before sips, I do notice at long last a slow emergence of bourbon as an aftertaste. Quite good but it takes a while to develop, so there's a bit of redemption for this one. And as with many higher abv brews, after a bit of palate adjustment, the flavors are more amenable.

Mouthfeel - good mouthfeel; smooth, slightly heavy.

Drinkability - I can appreciate the effort in making it, but it's not up my alley.

9/26/06Appearance - all black pour, a dense mocha head of about a finger or so, insulating quite well. Thick rings of lace on this one. 5.0

Aroma - chocolate covered bourbon balls. The chocolate fades to something a bit smoky, the bourbon stays right where its at. Hmmm, beer or bourbon? 3.5

Taste - sweet and chocolatey at first, like Kahlua. Alcohol warming on the swallow, roasted malts and sweetened bourbon take over. Finishes with a dry sweetness, bittersweet chocolate, and one of the most pleasant alcohol infusions running through it all. 5.0

Mouthfeel - insanely smooth from the first sip. The heaviness goes well with the sweetness and "bigness" of the flavor. 5.0

Drinkability - for the bourbon-loving sweet tooths out there, this is a treat. Quite approachable for a beer of this style and crafting. 5.0

Upon tasting, there's a flow of slightly charred but mildly sweet roasted malt, with plum, raisin, and smokey oak in play. A vinous note hints at port, and is joined by a strident tendon of seemingly mentholated alcohol. The grain replays briefly before sneaky hops bitter things rather abruptly, leading to a lingering dry finish. It seems like a compressed, almost rushed version of the aroma, but it's still a decently crafted profile.

The aroma starts with plenty going on, but pretty much leisurely. Then the flavor compacts the elements into a more concentrated and harder to read burst. The one real distraction, though, is the gleaming streak of alcohol that tries to part the flavor like Moses and the Red Sea. And that ABV goes a long way toward keeping consumption well in line. It's a beefy bugger that has some in the plus column, and is worth a try.

Pours black with a light brown head with some decent retention. Initial smell is large on sugary vanilla, also has some bourbony alcohol and roastiness. As i get further into it, the smoky roasty aroma and alcohol aroma become stronger. Taste starts with a nice roasted malt flavor, then a sweet creamy vanilla and cola-y flavor followed up by some nice alcohol presence and more roastiness with a little tang. This beer is fairly creamy on the palette with a decent size body and also a fair but proportionate amount of spicy alcohol and a large amount of acidic tanginess. I enjoy this beer, it definitely seems bigger than 7.8 abv and may be too rich to sample too much of but 22 oz is perfect tonight.

Pours out with plenty of brown suds leaving little lacing.
the aroma is sweet and bitter at the same time. There is a fruit smell in there as well. The Whiskey aroma really shines through when the drink warms up a bit. Best tasted above 50 degrees.
It has a clean taste with slight caramel and hopps mixing in with the bourbon flavor.
Mouthfeel is really clean for such a Porter which makes me think it might be a little watered down.
Drinkability is the better quality here. Arcadia has better beers, but this one is worth another goaround.

What it is! Not my favorite style for summer quaffing but a nice treat on a hot summer's day anyhow. HUGE vanilla and oak from the barrel on the nose, also plum, licorice, espresso, and a touch of tobacco. Perfect tan head leaves a merengue-like film on the side of my tasting glass (from the 1st ever Gitchee Gumi fest, heh heh) and makes me think of dessert. A smokey, tannic dessert beer? Sure, why not. Velvety-smooth with soft carbonation on the first sip, but with a nice hop bite and significant bitterness braced-up against the malt complexity. Notes of green apple in the aromatics, along with complex phenols and warming alcohol. A sipper, not a beer for easy quaffing or light cuisines . . . probably great with cigars. Definitely cellarable and worth stashing a bottle. While this certainly isn't a beer for everyong, it is a beer for me.
Way to go, Arcadia!

I thought the pour the beer looked a bit thin as Im used to Russian Imperial Stouts barrel aged. It looked good  dark with a light brown head. The nose was slightly sour with definite whiskey on the nose. To like this beer you must like whiskey and weak porters. The beer is not bad only that it can not hold up to the whiskey aging. Worth a try but not a repeat for me.

22 oz bomber. Pours a fairly dark brown color with a 3 finger tan head over top that falls to about a finger before settling. The brew is murky, with a moderate cascade of bubbles maintaining the head. Nose brings prominent sour notes, reminding me more of a sour brown than a porter of any type. Behind that I find some deeper roasted and lighter chocolate notes with a light alcohol blanked in the background. As it warms, this become more clear on the aroma. There are definate aggressive alcoholic whiskey notes in this one. Moderate vanilla tones sit over top of coffee and chocolate. Not quite what I was expecting on the nose with this one from the initial pour, but after letting it sit and come to stasis, it is okay. Flavor is interesting. The sourness is there, but more subdued. My initial impression is that the alcohol really stands out in this one. I get an initial hint of it as I first sip the beer, but after swallowing the brew, it really hits almost like a spirit, in my sinuses and then as a moderate burn in my stomach. Outside of this, I find some chocolate and roasted notes, with a very mild fig that rounds things out. The aftertaste is a little solvent-like due to the alcohol as well, making this less than desirable. I would have to say that the alcohol detracts pretty heavy on this one. Mouthfeel is thick, with a light to moderate carbonation that serves to break it up a little. As I said, this one lights up my stomach a bit, even leaving traces of heat in my esophagus. Overall, this one just isn't captivating my senses. At 7.8%, it should not be as aggressive on the alcohol as it is. I am not sure if the sourness is supposed to be there or not. I may grab another bottle now that its on shelves near me and see if this is a product of the bottle I have or if it is chronic.

Mohagany black color with a cappucino brown head. Settles to a layer of foam atop the liquid. Aroma is strong on the bourbon barrel notes. Lots of vanilla sweetness and woody esters along with a twinge of alcohol. It's all a bit sharp with some roastiness. It really comes out at you. Taste is also on the strong side. Honestly there's not a whole lot of porter in this beer. The bourbon barrel aging really dominates. And I'm not a big time whiskey fan esp. for beers but this one is quite good. It's more of a vanilla/oak flavor rather than whiskey, which just seems to compliment. Not a whole lot of depth or subtlety but I really enjoyed this beer and that's what it's all about in the end. Different, give it a try.